Poker Face?

After a conversation with a colleague yesterday where they looked at my face and proceeded to read my emotional state completely wrongly, I got to thinking that it’s not just us Aspies that can’t read facial expressions – most NT’s (neurotypical) can’t read us either. Why is that?

I’m told that we Aspies have unusual, misleading or inappropriate facial expressions. I do a lot of time, mainly because I’m lost in thought or my face is reacting to something in my head. I’m not trying to copy the NT facial expressions, my brain is passing information and making connections. Figuring out what was said, etc, I have to do all this with various other things going on in my head, before I can react “appropriately”. But the reaction isn’t a natural one, it’s one I have to work out to go with the conversation. I haven’t totally mastered it, because it’s like learning a foreign language.

So, in the interests of science, I want to try an experiment to show how NT’s can do what we can’t, and vice versa.

The link below is for a recognised test where all you have is a set of eyes and four emotions to pick from! Can you link the emotional state to the eyes.